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Re: Transformers: Energon & Beyond

Grimlock, Swindle, and Meister turned up at my Toys R Us today when I went to get a few more E3 Sneak Prviews for my Wookiee Army.

I already have Meister, but pondered and ultimately did NOT purchase Grimlock or Swindle.

It was hard. Grimlock looks great. I prefer the 2004 Mustang, or '05 if this is the '06 and they had to make a recent year, but it still looks great. I just may buy this model after I see Wheeljack (though the racing stripe isn't that appealing on the car either.)

To me, Grimlock should be a dinosaur and if this was a beast-machine Alternator, I'd have preferred that. I'd rather see what the movie will show once these characters hit the big screen. (Though mass-produced toys for the movie will ultimatley be cheaper than Alternators - which is why I'm clecting this line).

Swindle looks nice. But again, I'm having a small collection, and want the main characters based on the cartoon. Decepticons like Starscream, Megatron, Soundwave (whatever they do) and Shockwave, as well as some other jsts, will be my focus. Ravage might get bought. I could pose the robot on all-fours. Shockwave - well again, he's very movie accurate in robot mode.

Anyway, I'll think about these for a while and maybe get them down the road. Dead End with Sunstreaker's head didn't do it for me either though. I'm picky about my Decepticons.

Re: Transformers: Energon & Beyond

I think those two have been floating around since November, Windcharger was the one who was just released IIRC. I wish I could find any of them..

Remy has some galleries of Galaxy Force figures, for those interested. I've changed my mind on Guardshell/Landmine. I still don't like the RiD Wedge style shovels on his arms, but it looks like a solid figure. Gasket looks doofy.

Re: Transformers: Energon & Beyond

Originally Posted by Adam

I think those two have been floating around since November, Windcharger was the one who was just released IIRC. I wish I could find any of them..

Remy has some galleries of Galaxy Force figures, for those interested. I've changed my mind on Guardshell/Landmine. I still don't like the RiD Wedge style shovels on his arms, but it looks like a solid figure. Gasket looks doofy.

Re: Transformers: Energon & Beyond

Forgot to mention this when I saw it... this comes from someone who posted early information on Energon/Superlink that turned out to be accurate for the most part. It is based on preproduction files he was some how able to get his hands on. It's believeable because of his accuracy with Superlink.

Many of the unannounced characters appear to be homages to original characters: last in the list of megas is a Soundwave and Menasor. The list indicates that they'll retain those names for their American release.

The supers are as follows:
Galaxy Convoy, Master Megatron, Galvatron, Metroplex.
Two of these we've seen already.

The supremes are Starscream and PRIMUS. The Starscream is the huge Starscream that's been unveiled already.

In terms of main planets, it appears there will be five, which are presumably those insignias comprising the chip of Vector Prime.

If you examine his chip, it's modeled after a clock, with the planets they visit going from largest to smallest in the order they are visited.

These are:

Earth (Eclipsing sun)

Speedia (A speed burst of some sort)
"A planet where speed is everything"

Beast (animal claw)
"A planet that lives by the law of survival: the strong eat the weak"

Giant (A gear, half larger than the other)
"The planet that both giant Transformers and the minicons hail from"
This is where Metroplex, Menasor, Onslaught, and the Minicons are listed as being from. This is said to be the location of the last chip.

The last symbol is a tiny Cybertron symbol, probably symbolizing the return of planet Seibertron. How this relates to the final planet listed, Planet X, is unclear.

Planet X
"Are the residents allies, or foes?"
This is where Soundwave and Sideways are said to come from.

Re: Transformers: Energon & Beyond

So much Galaxy Force/Cybertron info coming out that I am starting to lose track. I am going to try to leave the plot details aside until the show comes out and instead concentrate on the figures because I just can't keep it all going in my head.

Picked up Energon Kickback and Stormcloud tonight. Both are ok figures, but both are pretty lousy limbs (worse than the other 4 molds IMO). I'll have more to say on them tomorrow, but I've run out of steam.

Darth Vader is becoming the Mickey Mouse of Star Wars.

"In Brooklyn, a castle, is where dwell I"

The use of a lightsaber does not make one a Jedi, it is the ability to not use it.

Re: Transformers: Energon & Beyond

Stormcloud: "Hi, I'm safety-orange and gold and brown with blue accents. ...hey, why are you running away and covering your eyes???" Yikes, what the heck were they thinking with this colorscheme? This is worse than most TFU eyesores, and it just makes no sense to me - it's like earthtones drinking too much whiskey and throwing up. Stormcloud's alt mode is a helicopter, looks military but there are no weapons sculpted on at all. Stormcloud is sporting massive bot-mode kibble, the legs are slapped onto either side at the top, I guess they're supposed to be giant thrusters or something; the arms are just hanging off the bottom, except for the little wings on each arm these don't seem to be pretending to be ANYTHING. The energon weapon in alt mode is 2 large rear-facing cannons far apart and 2 smaller forward-facing cannons right next to each other with the center "thumb" gets shoved in between the arms, and the whole unit just pegs into the FISTS, how uncreative is that?!? The main rotor is a little further above the vehicle than I'd like and 1 blade is an entire level above the other which I hate; the spark crystal is at an angle just behind the main rotor; and both rotors spin freely. The vehicle mode does have some good detail sculpting here and there, and besides the fist holes, there are standard 5mm holes under each little arm wing; just behind and to the left of the cockpit is a TEENY Decepticon logo that's been painted with the purple on white background. Even with all the sculpting flaws, alt mode isn't terrible and would actually be decent if they had pushed the arms directly under the legs instead of under the body -- you can sorta do this but the shoulders stick down a bit and it doesn't lock down, even still I think it looks better than the official mode.

Transformation is simple once you get the tricks down and accept that there's no way to lock the chest into place. There's not much to say, unfold the arms & legs, rotate the waist, fold up the tail, open the little panels and fold down the cockpit. You're supposed to have to fold back the head too, but it generally is already in position once you folded the cockpit.

Bot mode is short for an Energon Basic, and suffers from THS or "Transformer Helicopter Syndrome" - chest made from cockpit, main rotorblades loosely hanging off back on top of each other, entire copter tail stuck between figure's legs. The only surprise is that the figure actually has waist articulation. Articulation includes rotating head and waist, ball-jointed shoulders, elbows, hips & knees, and you could possibly also count the hinged feet pointing down if you were so inclined. The head is brown with a gold faceplate and blue visor-eye, intricately sculpted to look like a bot wearing a helmet with visor. The light-piping works well, though the light blue color isn't very "evil", but the back of the light-piping is just as well-sculpted as the rest of the head. The energon accessory has the outer cannons rotate around so all 4 long barrels point the same direction and the thumb makes for another barrel or a sight; what's cool is that the outer cannons are removable and have pegs on the back too so they can be held as clubs instead of guns; what's not cool is that the center segment uses a highly-noticable orange piece to connect the outer guns, and when you remove those outer guns there's no way to hold the center part.

Like most (possibly all) of the Energon combiner basics, transformation to limb mode is the same for leg or arm except for the energon piece. Here, you transform to bot mode but fold the cockpit half down on a lower joint, then rotate the lower legs around and tab them into the forearms. The end result for leg & arm are both pretty lame, as a leg there's too little holding the parts together and the energon piece only touches the ground at its center which is way further back than it should be; the arm doesn't have the body resting on it so the problem holding together isn't as much of an issue, but the "forearm" is extra wide and juts way in towards the combiner torso so the arm has to be held away from the body. The only really good thing is the energon "hand", 4 straight fingers and a thumb (and the thumb is hinged for either lefties or righties).

Bottom line, I probably would have bought this mold if it weren't a combiner because it's an ok basic TF fig, but I would have only bought the purple paint job of it.

Kickback: Originally the name of an Insecticon - a theme which will be touched upon ever so slightly in bot mode - Kickback's alt mode here is apparently a specific Japanese anti-aircraft tank, it's green with silver & dark green and some gold and white paint accents. The tank has a set of 3 small guns on either side of the main turret, 2 stubby gun barrels at the nose which are standard-sized 5mm pegs, and 2 large cannons at the rear of the turret which can elevate to above upright; the entire turret can rotate all the way around. The only bot-mode kibble are fists at the end of the bot arms which make up the second 2/3rds of the turret. The energon weapon in alt mode plugs into the fists and is a plate with a pair of large cannons which can also elevate as a pair to either 45 or 90 degrees, and on the back of the plate is a squared radar dish which is part of the real tank's design; speaking of the real design, the spark crystal is at the front of the turret which is on the real tank as a sensor. (The radar dish even has a minicon peg on the back.) There is some good detail sculpting here, especially at the back of the tank and the sides above the non-moving tracks (it rolls on 4 smooth concealed wheels), and the purple-on-white Decepticon logo is near the spark crystal facing backwards. My only real gripes are the main guns splaying out slightly when aimed straight ahead, and the 2 bot arms lock together so one is a smidge above the other. I dig this little tank, it's cool, well-armed, and the turret even rotates.

Transformation is neat but a little complicated, and the instructions are more confusing than helpful. Basically, fold the tank sides into wings, rotate the turret around on a second rotation joint, unlock the arms and fold the shoulders back, then fold the neck plate down and hinge the rest of the torso onto the chest. It's clever in some ways, simple in others.

Bot mode is cool, the figure is armed out the wazoo and there are these big wings with an almost insect bone-like pattern running up the lower edge (hence the very loose and possibly non-existant Insecticon connection, though the real Kickback had a different orientation for his wings), then there's a chest portrusion and those long flat feet. The face looks very determined, it's gray with orange paint in the middle, the light-piped eyes are very small, and again the light blue color shining through really isn't evil enough but the shape does give character to what could have been a simple face. The POA include standard head & waist, ball-jointed shoulders, elbows, hips and knees, and hinged feet; the waist is a total bonus since there's no need for it in transformation, and the head is cool because it has those 2 sets of 3 small guns attached to either side that turn with it; the feet hinge past flat so he can point his toes like he's flying - another bonus that had nothing to do with transformation. Besides all that, the massive cannon on either forearm now rotates all the way around, the chest piece can hinge up to act as a binocular-type viewer, and the wings are hinged and can rotate about 30 degrees outward. So Kickback here can apparently fly AND he's armed to the teeth? Awesome! Then, as if that wasn't enough, the energon accessory can be held at the radar dish's minicon peg or hinge up the dish and use either of the minicon pegs on the rear of the middle plate for a fairly massive blaster rifle.

Transformation to limb mode is literally non-existant, start in tank mode, attach energon weapon via its 2 standard holes and a notch to the tank's nose guns, the end. Some fans open the tank sides a little in arm mode which allows the bot legs to become a very effect elbow, but I am pretty sure that is not part of the official transformation.

The leg mode works ok, the energon weapon flattens out, it's a little narrow from the front but it is way better than Stormcloud's leg mode - however I don't like how wide Kickback is as a leg. For arm mode, the energon accessory folds up to be 2 long fingers and a short, wide thumb on the other side, with the unofficial elbow in play it's a decent arm, but the tank still looks odd, maybe it's too thin or still too wide, I dunno what.

Overall, I really like Kickback and definitely would have bought him without the combiner aspect no matter what, I'm for sure going to buy his repaint when I can find it.

Darth Vader is becoming the Mickey Mouse of Star Wars.

"In Brooklyn, a castle, is where dwell I"

The use of a lightsaber does not make one a Jedi, it is the ability to not use it.

Re: Transformers: Energon & Beyond

I scored Alternator Battle Ravage in a rather ravaged package at the Target in Temecula, CA, over the weekend. (These things are coming out a little too quickly lately.) The illustration looks cool, but whether the figure is cool in robot form will depend on whether his jaw opens as seen in the illustration or is static as in the product photo. I'm not going to open any of the Alternators I've picked up since Sideswipe until I move, so I won't know until then. I'm more or less planning on displaying all the 'Bots in robot form and the 'Con repaints in car mode unless some particular 'Con completely blows me away.

So Ravage is out, which means Shockblastwave is probably out as well, or will be shortly. Man, this is getting rather expensive, and I don't even mess with the other bazillion TF lines.

However, speaking of the other lines, is the Grimlock/Swoop 2-pack im-freakin'-possible to find? I saw it once at Target about a month ago and passed, since I was short on money following a deposit on our new place and I'd never seen any Energon figure who didn't hang around for a while anyway. I'm thinking maybe I made a mistake, since the Grimlock looked pretty cool.

Re: Transformers: Energon & Beyond

I hear you on the Energon Grimlock and Swoop. Never even seen them around here. Off all the Energon figures, thats the only one i didnt see at local store. I dont dare check Ebay to see its going rate. Sucks!

The Alternators do seem to be popping up real quick, only to disappear around here, unless they are Silverstreak, who is warming like no other Alt has. Hound isnt moving too well either, but at least he doesnt seem to be out in the quantity that Silver is.

Re: Transformers: Energon & Beyond

Ravages mouth does open. It's hawt.

I'm both frustrated and excited by the fact that the Alternators are coming so frequently and selling so quickly. I want everyone to get what they're looking for, though, and I don't know how to fix that without running the risk of clogging the shelves. As long as I'm still able to pick them up, I won't complain, but it's not easy and I want to get every figure.

As for Grim and Swoop, yes the pack is hard to find but it's in the next wave of Energon Megas. Just don't get too excited. I messed with a friend of mine's over the holiday break and was not impressed. Floppy in all three modes. Kind of a great idea, poorly executed. I'd rather have their G1 versions any day.